This chapter explores how psychologically disabled veterans became a site of controversy in politically-charged debates over the impact of the First World War on German society. Conservative ...
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This chapter explores how psychologically disabled veterans became a site of controversy in politically-charged debates over the impact of the First World War on German society. Conservative authorities blamed ‘war neurotics’ for shirking their duty, breaking down under fire, and inspiring defeat and revolution. Many blamed ‘hysterical’ men for betraying the nation, and conservatives argued that mentally disabled men were not authentic war victims and thus did not deserve a pension. Traumatized men argued that the real ‘hysterics’ were the conservative doctors and politicians who celebrated war as healthy for the nation. Left-wing political leaders, especially in the Social Democratic Party, supported mentally disabled veterans as authentic victims and empathetic symbols of the effects of militarism.Less

The War Neurotics Return Home : Psychologically Disabled Veterans and Postwar Society, 1918–1920

Jason Crouthamel

Published in print: 2010-01-03

This chapter explores how psychologically disabled veterans became a site of controversy in politically-charged debates over the impact of the First World War on German society. Conservative authorities blamed ‘war neurotics’ for shirking their duty, breaking down under fire, and inspiring defeat and revolution. Many blamed ‘hysterical’ men for betraying the nation, and conservatives argued that mentally disabled men were not authentic war victims and thus did not deserve a pension. Traumatized men argued that the real ‘hysterics’ were the conservative doctors and politicians who celebrated war as healthy for the nation. Left-wing political leaders, especially in the Social Democratic Party, supported mentally disabled veterans as authentic victims and empathetic symbols of the effects of militarism.